Bolzano is the seat of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where lectures and seminars are held in English, German and Italian. The city is also home to the Italian Army's Alpini High Command (COMALP) and some of its combat and support units.[2] It is one of five mainly Italian-speaking municipalities in the Germanic province of South Tyrol.

In a 2010 quality-of-life survey by the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Bolzano was ranked first among 107 Italian cities on the survey's list.[3] In the 2011 edition of the survey, Bolzano was ranked number two and came after the top-ranked Bologna.[4] In the 2012 edition, Bolzano regained the top place as the city with the Best Quality of Life in Italy.[5]

Along with other Alpine towns in South Tyrol, Bolzano engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention. The Convention aims to promote and achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Consequently, Bolzano was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2009.

The modern-day Bolzano was in ancient times a marshy region inhabited by the Raetian Isarci people, traditionally believed to be descendants of Etruscan refugees fleeing Italy from the invading Gauls.[6] The Romans built a settlement after the area had been conquered in 15 BC by General Nero Claudius Drusus. The military settlement, Pons Drusi (Drusus Bridge), was named after this Roman General. During this time the area became part of the region Venetia et Histria (Regio X) of ancient Italy.

In 1948, excavations of the current Cathedral led to the discovery of an ancient Christian basilica from the 4th century. Also discovered was a Roman cemetery, including the tomb of "Secundus Regontius" with Latin inscriptions dating to the 3rd century, making him the oldest known inhabitant of Bolzano.[7]

Bavarian Settlement

During the gradual decline of the Roman's influence in the 7th century, Bavarian immigration took place and the first mention of a Bavarian ruler in Bolzano dated from 679.[8] At that time, the Bavarians named the nearby villages around Bolzano Bauzanum or Bauzana.[9]German populations have been present in the region of Tyrol since this time.

In 1277 Bolzano was conquered by Meinhard II, the Count of Tyrol, leading to a struggle between the Counts of Tyrol and the bishops of Trent. In 1363, the County of Tyrol fell under the influence of Habsburg Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1381, Duke Leopold granted the citizens of Bolzano the privilege of a town council. This gradually eliminated the influence and power previously held by the bishops of Trent over the next few decades. In 1462, the bishops eventually resigned all their rights of jurisdiction over the town.[11]

From the 14th and 15th centuries onwards, a large market fair was organised four times per year to greet tradesmen and merchants en-route the Brenner Pass. The Mercantile Magistrate was therefore founded in 1635 by the Austrian duchess Claudia de' Medici. During every market season, two Italian and two Germanic officers, who were appointed among the local tradesmen, worked in this magistrate office. The establishment of an official trade organisation strengthened Bolzano as a cultural crossroad in the Alps.[12]

No fighting took place in the County of Tyrol during the First World War. Germany and Austria-Hungary, however, lost to the Entente and signed an armistice in 1918. The transfer of South Tyrol to Italy took place in 1919. At the time of Bolzano's annexation by the Kingdom of Italy, the town was settled primarily by a German-speaking population. As of 1910, 29,000 inhabitants were German-speaking and only 1,300 Italian-speaking.[14]

In the 1920s, along with the rest of South Tyrol, Bolzano was subjected to an intensive Italianisation programme under the orders from the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The aim of his programme was to outnumber the local German-speaking population by tripling Bolzano's population with Italian-speaking immigrants drawn from the rest of the country.[14] In 1927, Bolzano became the capital of the province of South Tyrol. In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in the Weimar Republic. There was worry among Mussolini and the Fascists that Hitler, in facilitating his extreme ideology of all ethnic Germans under one Reich, would reclaim South Tyrol from Italy. Consequently, Mussolini and Hitler secured an agreement, the Option Agreement, in 1939. Hitler would renounce his claims over South Tyrol as Germany's Lebensraum (living space). Nevertheless, those Germans who opted to stay in South Tyrol and refuse to relocate to the Third Reich would be regarded as traitors and subject to a full-scale Italianisation.[15]

After the War, independence movements gradually gained popularity among the Germanic population in Bolzano and South Tyrol. In the 1960s, a series of terrorist attacks and assassinations were carried out by the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee – a German secessionist movement – against Italian police, officials and infrastructure facilities (one notable incident being the Night of Fire on 12 June 1961), forcing the United Nations to intervene in the negotiations with the Italian government in Rome. After 11 years of mediation and negotiation, a resolution was reached between Austria and Italy on granting considerable self-government to South Tyrol.

Bolzano is the biggest city in South Tyrol, which is an autonomous province in Northern Italy with a special statute. This statute preserves the rights of the German-speaking minority in Italy. This unique system was admired by the Dalai Lama, who visited the city on several occasions to study a possible application in Chinese-occupied Tibet.[19] It has also been presented as role model for the successful and fair resolution of inter-ethnic conflict to other regions of the world.[20]

Being located at multiple climate borders, Bolzano features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot summers and very cool winters. According to the Trewartha classification, this climate could not be really considered like a subtropical climate because of less than 8 months are at least 10 °C (50 °F), and thus would be considered like a semi-continental climate with hot summers. Some of its suburbs feature an oceanic climate (Cfb) due to some cooler summer temperatures, while mountains in the area may feature a continental climate (Dfb).

Its medieval city centre, Gothic and Romanesque churches and bilingual signage give it the flavour of a city at the crossroads of Italian and Austrian cultures. This and its natural and cultural attractions make it a popular tourist destination.